Exam 2 (PS101 Dunne)

Consciousness

Our moment to moment awareness of ourselves and our environment

What are ways to measure states of consciousness?

Self-reports, physiological measures, and behavioral measures

Are self-reports or physiological measures more accurate?

Self-reports are less reliable because people are not honest. Physiological measures are good because they are objective.

What are the levels of consciousness? (Freud)

Conscious, preconscious, and unconscious

Preconscious?

Easily called information

- Ex: "What is your mother's birthday?"

Cognitive unconscious

Conscious and unconscious processes are complementary, work in harmony

Controlled processing

Conscious use of attention, effort

- Ex: Learning to ride a bike

Automatic Processing

Performing tasks with no conscious effort or awareness

- Ex: Brushing teeth

Circadian rhythm

Daily 24-hour biological cycles

What does circadian rhythm regulate/affect?

Body temperature, hormonal secretions, and other bodily functions

Are morning are night people superior?

Morning people are superior because they are related to more positive health outcomes

What regulates our circadian rhythm?

The superchiasmatic nuclei (SCN); SCN neurons link to pineal gland which secretes melatonin

Stage 1 sleep

Light sleep: theta waves

Stage 2 sleep

Sleep deepens; sleep spindles (rapid Burts of activity. Theta waves continue to dominate.

Stage 3 sleep

Sleep deepens even more; delta waves appear

Stage 4 sleep

Delta waves dominate; slow wave sleep

REM sleep

Rapid eye movements, high arousal, frequent dreaming. Solidifies memories.

What happens during REM?

- Heart rate increases,

- Breathing becomes more rapid and irregular

- Brain-wave activity increases,

- Penile erections and vaginal lubrication,

- Limbic system activity increases

- Association areas near visual cortex active

- Motor cortex active but signals blocked

- Decreased activity in prefrontal cortex

"REM Sleep Paralysis"

Difficulty for voluntary muscles to contract

Do sleepers go back through all earlier stages?

After stage 4, sleeper typically goes "back" through earlier stages. Not another stage 1.

How often do we cycle through sleep stages?

Roughly every 90 minutes

How does sleep change with age?

- Sleep less

- REM sleep decreases during infancy + childhood, fairly stable thereafter

- Time spent in stages 3,4 (slow-wave sleep) declines

Why do we sleep: Restoration Model

Sleep recharges bodies and allows recovery from mental and physical fatigue

Evolutionary/Circadian Model

Each species evolved a sleep-week pattern that increase its chances of survival in relation to environmental demands

Wish fulfillment (Freud)

Gratification of unconscious desires and needs (sexual and aggressive urges)

Manifest content

"Surface" story of dream

Latent content

Disguised psychological meaning of dream

Cognitive-process dream theory (Foulkes)

Dreams and waking thoughts are produced by same systems in the brain

Activation-synthesis theory (Hobson + McCourley)

Dreams are merely by-product of neural activity. Brain synthesizes "best-fit" story in response to random neural activation

What do we dream about?

- Day residues

- Unresolved conflict

- Hidden urges

- Wish fulfillment

- Negative/unpleasant content is common

What are examples of what affects dream content?

Cultural background, life experiences, and current concerns

Daydreaming

Usually less vivid, emotional, and bizarre than nighttime dreams

Fantasy-prone personality

Live in a vivid, rich fantasy world they control. 2% to 4% of the population

Depressants

Decrease nervous system activity

Examples of depressants

Alcohol, barbiturates, tranquilizers

Alcohol

- Increases activity GABA; decreases activity of glutamate

- Depresses the CNS (lower inhibition, sexual arousal, and ability to be more social)

- Impairs sympathetic nervous system as well

Sedatives

Erase memory and prevent movement

Examples of sedatives

Barbiturates, ketamine, and rufees

Opiates

Blocks pain and produces euphoria. Binds to endorphin receptor sites and increases dopamine

Stimulants

Increases neural firing and arouse the nervous system

Examples of stimulants

Caffeine, nicotine, amphetamines, cocaine, ecstasy

Amphetamines

Produces euphoric mood. Increases dopamine and norepinephrine activity

Negative side effect of amphetamine?

Amphetamine psychosis and decreases need for food

Cocaine

Increases activity of norepinephrine, dopamine by blocking reuptake

Negative side effects of cocaine?

Tardive dyskinesia, and increase risk of cognitive impairment (brain damage)

Ecstasy

Produces feelings of pleasure, elation, empathy, and warmth. Interferes with serotonin reuptakes

Negative side effects of ecstasy?

- Depression

- Slugishness

- Poor memory

- Sleep difficulties

- Less sexual pleasure

Hallucinogens

Distort or intensify sensory experience. Can blur boundaries between reality and fantasy

What are some natural hallucinogens?

- Mescaline (peyote)

- Psylocibin (mushrooms)

- Salvia

What are some synthetic hallucinogens?

- LSD (lysergic acid)

- PCP (phencyclidine)

Marijuana

Most widely used illegal drug in U.S., may increase GABA and dopamine activity

What is marijuana classified as?

Depressant and hallucinogen

What are common misconceptions regarding marijuana?

- Users become unmotivated and apathetic

- Causes people to start using more dangerous drugs

- No significant dangers with use

What are some dangers associated with marijuana?

- Cancer-causing substances

- Negative changes in mood, sensory distortions, panic and anxiety

- Reaction time, thinking, memory, and learning are impaired

Agonist

Increase neurotransmitter activity

Antagonists

Drugs that inhibit or decrease neurotransmitter activity

Drug tolerance

A decrease in responsivity to a drug

Compensatory response

Physiological reactions opposite to that of a drug, results from brain adjusting to changes in body functioning

Withdrawal

Occurrence of compensatory response after drug use is discontinued

Memory

Processes that allow us to record, store, and receive

Functions of memory

Allows learning from experience and helps us adapt to changing environments

3 basics processes of memory

1.) Encoding: translating info into a neural code that brain can understand

2.) Storage: retaining information over time

3.) Retrieval: accusing stored information

3 stage model of memory (Atkinson + Shiffrin)

1.) Sensory memory

2.) Short-term memory

3.) Long-term memory

Sensory memory

Extremely briefly holds sensory information; fades fast

Short-term memory

Temporarily holds a limited amount of information

Capacity of short-term memory

7 +/- 2

Chunking

Combining individual items into larger units of meaning; increases short-term memory

Short-term memory (working memory)

- Phonological loop

- Visuospatial sketchpad

- Central executive

Phonological loop

Auditory storage

Visuospatial sketchpad

Mental images and spatial info

Central executive

Directs attention, recall from LTM, and integration of input

Long-term memory

Library of durable stored memories

Where are long-term memories stored?

All over the place, but brain links. Flaw; leads to false memories

Storage of long-term memory

Unlimited and memories can endure for a lifetime

Types of LTM

Explicit and implicit

Explicit memory

Conscious or intentional memory retrieval

Implicit memory

Memory influences behavior but no conscious awareness

Declarative memory

Factual knowledge

Episodic memory

Experiences (when, where, emotions)

Semantic memory

Facts

Cue

Stimuli that leads to the activation of information stored in LTM

What leads to better retrieval?

Multiple effective cues

Is recognition or recall easier?

Recognition because with recall it is harder to generate information by yourself

Context-dependent memory

Easier to remember something in same environment where encoded

State-dependent memory

Ability to retrieve better when internal state at retrieval matches encoding

Mood-congruent recall

Tend to recall info or events congruent with current mood

- Ex: Feeling angry, will recall more negative things

Priming

Exposure to one stimulus influences a response to a subsequent stimulus

Flashbulb memories

Vivid, clear recollections. Like a snapshot in time. Often inaccurately recalled

Serial position effect

Tendency to recall the first and last item on a list

Primacy effect

Better recall for beginning of a list

Recency effect

Better recall for end of a list

HM patient

Amnesic patent who had very poor LTM but performed well on STM tasks

Effortful processing

Intentional and conscious

Automatic processing

Unintentional and requiring minimal attention

Maintenance rehearsal

Rate repetition of information. Not an optimal method because not very deep processing.

- Ex: Repeating phone number over + over

Elaborative rehearsal

Focuses on information's meaning; expands upon information

Is maintenance or elaborative rehearsal better?

Elaborative because deeper processing = better retrieval

Schemas

Help us organize and interpret information

- Ex: Birds --> rare birds, birds we eat, tropical birds

Boschker et. al 2002

Developing schemas allows development of expert knowledge

What is the flaw with mnemonic devices?

Does not help with understanding only memorization